


You of the Dark

by bakagou, TalonDick



Series: Nightwing Rewritten [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Gen, Kidnapping, Major character death - Freeform, Mind Control, Minor Character Death, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 23:58:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15807186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakagou/pseuds/bakagou, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalonDick/pseuds/TalonDick
Summary: Despite all his dodging, his weaving, his careful planning, everything had fallen apart. His previous confidence had been replaced by anxiety and fear. He was going to die down here. All alone, and his family was so far away.Nightwing and Raptor fall at the last hurdle, leaving Raptor left for dead and Dick at the mercy of the Parliament of Owls. They're determined on making their Gray Son into the perfect talon- and this time, they're sure they won't fail.





	You of the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This entire fic series will be a canon divergence from Nightwing Rebirth #4. It'll start with the Parliament of Owls arc (this fic), and once it's finished, progress from there. Hopefully we'll do a better job than the writers at DC Comics, who don't know what they're doing.

“Don’t you think we should be more… covert while doing this?”

The cells everyone’s being held in are horrid, to Dick’s mind. Defenseless people cooped up and locked away like animals. Like they’re not worth the clothes on their backs. There’s nowhere to sleep comfortably, or even much space to  _ breathe _ . No water or food to be seen. He thinks that he’s never going to be able to get the wails of those children- those poor children who have no idea what’s going on and don’t deserve any of this- out of his head. God knows there’s no humanity here. 

It makes Dick’s stomach churn. The last thing he wants is for the Parliament to catch on to what they’re doing.

Raptor hums as he opens another cell door. “Well, we’re the only ones who are actually trained in  _ being _ covert, so in the long run it’s not gonna help us.”

Dick rolls his eyes but moves on, trying to get as many people out as possible. They just need to get these people to safety and then the hard part is over, they can get what they need and be gone before anything else can try to kill them.

Of course, it’s just Dick’s luck that a giant monster has to come for his blood. 

He springs out of the way, dodging the Moloch just in time and not even getting a chance to fight back.

“ _ The sound of his exploding head will be will be a choral hymn to the Parliament,”  _ the Moloch roars, and Dick just about sees red. 

“ _ That.  _ That right there is what I’ve been betting on the entire time,” Dick yells. He’s angry now. Fuming even. He’s so  _ sick  _ of the Court and the Parliament screwing him over, of thinking they’re entitled to him, of thinking that they know exactly how he ticks. 

He’s especially sick of them hurting his family, hurting his  _ Damian _ just to get to him. 

He’s so entirely sick of it that he rams his eskrima stick into the monster's arm.

But the Moloch just won’t stay down, and Dick falls to the ground, about to be murdered. He's lucky that Raptor cuts in to save his ass.

Dick heaves out a sigh as that  _ thing  _ crashes to the floor. In a way, he’s disappointed. All his punching and kicking and fighting and it was Raptor who got the last hit in.

But still,  _ who had shark DNA just lying around?  _

Dick pushes that thought aside just as Raptor hits the floor. He spins on his heels to face Raptor, concern bubbling up in his chest at the amount of blood pooling out from his leg. 

“T- Those were good times. Simpler times,” Raptor wheezes out. There’s a nostalgic tint to his voice, something that reminded Dick of himself when talking about the circus. Maybe if they both survived this, they’d have an opportunity to talk about days gone by without one of them bleeding out.

“Yeah. Simpler”, Dick says as he goes through the motions, determined to keep Raptor alive. “The smell of wet dirt and diesel in the morning. The sound of a cheering crowd.”

Raptor opens his mouth to reply just as the Moloch bursts in, screeching and screaming about making Dick one of them. 

_ Shit. _

The Moloch lunges at them, and Dick would probably have been dead if it wasn’t for Raptor, Raptor who is still  _ bleeding out and running out of time,  _ pushing him out of the way. 

There’s a roar as the creature attacks again, ravaging the walls of the labyrinth in an attempt to run his claws across him. Dick, of course, was losing his confidence by the minute. Raptor had easily fallen. The two of them had been taken by surprise. 

In accordance to his thoughts, he turns his head, reminding himself that the man is on the ground, bleeding out. Under normal circumstances, Dick would immediately rush to assist him. But he could not… he  _ would _ not. He now realizes how much is at stake in this fight. And if Raptor was indeed dying, he couldn’t afford to help him.

This realization- it made him feel awful. He could already feel the regret eating away at him. Nightwing never left people to die, whether they be friend or foe. It wasn’t in his nature. In a way, he felt like the Parliament was getting to him. Like this was just another step in their cruel game to change him.

Dick won’t play that game. He makes a break back toward Raptor.

“ _ So you cannot be bought when you’re alive? _ ” the Moloch asks, sending the hero flying with a kick. Dick grunts, and he’s positive he has several broken ribs. He can’t even find the strength to stand, and focuses on clutching the area where it hurts. The ugly light glistens in his eyes.  

“ _...You’ll still make a fine talon when we bring you back from the dead. _ ”

Dick spits on him. It lands with a splat on his beak, and the monster growls. It’s sickening to hear.

“ _ Boy… I’m going to make you into  _ **_one of us_ ** _ , Gray Son of Gotham! _ ”

He’s clearly pissed him off, but it doesn’t matter anymore. At this point... Dick can only delay his death.

Despite all his dodging, his weaving, his careful planning, everything had fallen apart. His previous confidence had been replaced by anxiety and fear. He was going to die down here. All alone, and his family was so far away.

His family… At least Damian was safe. For all Dick’s fuck ups, he’d succeeded in keeping Damian from their grasp. The Parliament would never get to him. And in that sense, they’d failed.

“Kill me then. But whatever you do, I  _ won’t _ break. Nothing you can do will  _ make _ me.”

There’s no way he’s going to die down here without defiance.

Suddenly the Moloch drives his talons through Dick’s chest. He feels himself slipping from reality, the blood pooling up around him as if spilt paint on a fresh canvas.

The talons slide out of his body in such clean form- it shouldn’t be possible for a monster of that size. They drip red, like the teeth of a wolf. Or the claws of an owl.

Somehow he remains conscious long enough to see his foe revert form, to that of the Orator. And then he laughs- it’s a hideous laugh that lurches and trembles. A laugh that a child hears in nightmares. A laugh that signifies horror. 

Dick is sure there will be much horror to come when he wakes up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! The next chapter should ideally be up sometime this week, so be on the lookout.


End file.
